UNEP GRID Data

DEWA/GRID-Geneva is part of UNEP's global group of environmental information centres, known as the Global Resource Information Database (GRID) network. GRID centres facilitate access to and directly provide environmental data and information aimed at policymakers; they underpin UNEP's ongoing review of environmental state and trends; and provide early warnings about emerging environmental problems and threats.

Data layers are available as ArcInfo export (.e00) files or as TIFF or BIL images on a range of subjects including: biodiversity, boundaries, climate, ecology, land cover, soils, vegetation.

GRID-Geneva also holds a significant number of statistical and tabular databases concerning, in particular, the human environment ... GRID-Geneva's Global and European databases consists of a wide variety of thematic layers, such as climate, soils, vegetation and water-related data sets, as well as infrastructural and socio-economic data sets on human population, boundaries, roads and railways.

Users are required to submit their name, email, purpose, and to cite the source in any publications.

This site also links to the NCSU Libraries GIS Data Collection although licensing provisions require that some datasets be made available online only to NCSU affiliated users.